#89 – Stephen Wolfram: Cellular Automata, Computation, and Physics

About this episode

<p>Stephen Wolfram is a computer scientist, mathematician, and theoretical physicist who is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, a company behind Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Wolfram Language, and the new Wolfram Physics project. He is the author of several books including A New Kind of Science, which on a personal note was one of the most influential books in my journey in computer science and artificial intelligence.</p> <p>Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:<br /> &#8211; ExpressVPN at <a href="https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod">https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod</a><br /> &#8211; Cash App &#8211; use code &#8220;LexPodcast&#8221; and download:<br /> &#8211; Cash App (App Store): <a href="https://apple.co/2sPrUHe">https://apple.co/2sPrUHe</a><br /> &#8211; Cash App (Google Play): <a href="https://bit.ly/2MlvP5w">https://bit.ly/2MlvP5w</a></p> <p>EPISODE LINKS:<br /> Stephen&#8217;s Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram">https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram</a><br /> Stephen&#8217;s Website: <a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/">https://www.stephenwolfram.com/</a><br /> Wolfram Research Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/WolframResearch">https://twitter.com/WolframResearch</a><br /> Wolfram Research YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/WolframResearch">https://www.youtube.com/user/WolframResearch</a><br /> Wolfram Research Website: <a href="https://www.wolfram.com/">https://www.wolfram.com/</a><br /> Wolfram Alpha: <a href="https://www.wolframalpha.com/">https://www.wolframalpha.com/</a><br /> A New Kind of Science (book): <a href="https://amzn.to/34JruB2">https://amzn.to/34JruB2</a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.</span>&#160;If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/ai">https://lexfridman.com/ai</a> or connect with @lexfridman on <a href="https://twitter.com/lexfridman">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@lexfridman">Medium</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman">YouTube</a> where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-intelligence/id1434243584">Apple Podcasts</a>, follow on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2MAi0BvDc6GTFvKFPXnkCL">Spotify</a>, or support it on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman">Patreon</a>.</p> <p>Here&#8217;s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.</p> <p>OUTLINE:<br /> 00:00 &#8211; Introduction<br /> 04:16 &#8211; Communicating with an alien intelligence<br /> 12:11 &#8211; Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey<br /> 29:06 &#8211; What is computation?<br /> 44:54 &#8211; Physics emerging from computation<br /> 1:14:10 &#8211; Simulation<br /> 1:19:23 &#8211; Fundamental theory of physics<br /> 1:28:01 &#8211; Richard Feynman<br /> 1:39:57 &#8211; Role of ego in science<br /> 1:47:21 &#8211; Cellular automata<br /> 2:15:08 &#8211; Wolfram language<br /> 2:55:14 &#8211; What is intelligence?<br /> 2:57:47 &#8211; Consciousness<br /> 3:02:36 &#8211; Mortality<br /> 3:05:47 &#8211; Meaning of life</p>